Pushing Through the Limit Chapter 20: Responsibility (Patreon)

Several days had passed since I had returned to Konoha and I had to say, taking it easy was kind of boring. There was no internet for me to look things up. I had a TV, but it could only play tapes and I only had one movie about a princess, some samurai and some kind of different coloured chakra thing, which in itself was kind of boring to watch when I could literally spit fireballs and make dragons out of water.

Another thing, I hadn’t run into any of my friends other than Sasuke on the day that I returned to Konoha. The repairs to the village had been completed, but it seemed that the Shinobi were being run ragged to complete missions as fast as possible.

Luckily my boredom was soon to be cured as Tsunade had officially been declared Hokage not even an hour ago and called me to her office.

…PTL…

Walking into Tsunade’s office, I immediately let out a whistle at the stacks of paperwork sitting on her desk. “Damn, did no one do any paperwork after the Sandaime died?”

“Unfortunately there are documents that can only be completed by a Hokage,” Tsunade sighed as she leaned back into her chair.

“Where’s Shizune, can’t she at least help with organizing everything?”

“She’s needed at the hospital. Nothing bad, it’s just heavily mismanaged, the standard of medical Shinobi seems to have fallen since I was last here,” Tsunade explained. “For things to get this bad… Sarutobi-sensei was really losing his touch…”

“To be fair, he had tried to retire before… you know… the Yondaime,” I replied.

“Yes,” Tsunade said solemnly, before shaking herself out of her stupor. “But enough reminiscing of the past, I’ve called you here for two reasons. Firstly, I would like your advice on something.”

Rifling through her paperwork, Tsunade grabbed several sheets of paper before handing it to me.

Looking down, I raised an eyebrow, these were genin from the chunin exams, specifically those that had gone to the third round… with the exception of my sheet. “You… want me to help figure out who to make Chunin?”

“I trust your judgment,” Tsunade nodded.

Shuffling through the paperwork, I stopped on Shikamaru’s page. Shikamaru had originally been the only one to be promoted, but I always felt like that was a mistake, in the third stage he copied Naruto’s plan badly and forfeit. The Sasuke retrieval mission that he was in charge of couldn’t have gone worse… the only reason Choji and Neji survived was due to pure luck and the only reason Kiba and Shikamaru had survived had been due to the arrival of the sand siblings.

Hell, the Original Naruto would have likely died if Lee hadn’t shown up to fight off Kimimaro and then Lee also almost died… As a matter of fact, even Gaara almost died to Kimimaro. Shikamaru was going into the no pile.

Ino… She had fought me, but she ended up losing even when I was going easy on her. She was also going in the no pile.

Shino… now that was difficult. I’d seen Shino’s fight against Temari and he had definitely done his homework. He had learned how Temari’s jutsu worked, used it to his advantage and won. In the original timeline, he had fought Kankuro and fought to a draw. Shino was added to my yes pile.

Neji was an immediate no. He was strong and he could use Kaiten, but he didn’t have any backup plans other than relying on his Taijutsu and when faced with a superior opponent, he continued to fight instead of forfeiting and had his arms crushed.

And finally there was Sasuke. He was strong and he had a fully matured Sharingan, but at the same time he did snap and try to kill me that one time. For now, I didn’t think Sasuke was ready to be a chunin.

“Shino’s the only one I think is ready to actually be chunin, none of the others have the right mindset,” I announced, handing Shino’s paper to Tsunade.

“Oh, only Shino, not Shikamaru who was heavily recommended by his sensei and his father. What about you? Are you ready to be a Chunin?”

“My paper’s not there,” I replied. “As for Shikamaru, he didn’t even fight in the third round and I’m pretty sure that he slept through the invasion. I wouldn’t trust having my life in his hands.”

“You’re certain this is who you would choose? That these are the changes you would make?” Tsunade asked, peering over her stack of papers.

Thinking back to the original timeline, when Asuma died, Shikamaru led Ino and Choji on an unauthorized revenge mission that would have led to all of their death had Kakashi not chosen to join them. Kakashi himself almost died on that mission, if not for the timely intervention of Yamato and the original Naruto.

“I’m certain. Shikamaru might be smart, but he can only make a plan with complete information, once someone demonstrates that they have something else in their arsenal, his plan falls to pieces.”

We locked eyes for several moments before Tsunade smirked. “Good. From what I know of the Nara brat I wasn’t going to promote him, but I also wanted to see what you would choose to do, go with what you know or make your own choices. That’s why I–“

The door slammed open and in walked Konoha’s snake mistress Anko Mitarashi with a dango stick in her mouth. “You wanted to see me Hokage-same.”

Tsunade’s eyebrow twitched. “Yes… you’re early, I was still in the middle of something.”

“It’s better than being late, ain’t it?” Anko asked, swallowing her lunch. “So what did you need me for?”

“I was originally going to send you out to investigate on of Orochimaru’s old hideouts along with Naruto here, but maybe I should just send you on a few D-rank missions instead, how does Inuzuka kennel duty sound?”

“Wait, so I’ve gotta take the brat with me? He’s just a weak genin!”

“Not anymore,” Tsunade started, “He’s been promoted to–“

“So then he’s a chunin, it’s not like a chunin could be of much help.”

“Jonin Uzumaki Naruto will be accompanying you on this mission,” Tsunade stated loudly.

I choked on my spit.

“What?” Anko asked.

Yeah, what? At most I was expecting a promotion to chunin, not Jonin.

Tsunade smirked. “You heard me.”

“But… how is this brat promoted to Jonin while I’m still stuck at Tokubetsu Jonin?” Anko asked. “I saw him during the chunin exams, he’s nowhere near strong enough to be a Jonin. Chunin sure, but definitely not a Jonin!”

“Oh,” Tsunade hummed, glancing at me. “The standards sure have changed since my time. Before, to become a Jonin you needed to either master an element or have enough strength to fight off someone who has… You also needed a certain level of speed, strength and a good level of Taijutsu. I suppose when Naruto landed the killing blow on Orochimaru, it wasn’t enough proof that he’s strong enough to be a Jonin.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Orochimaru’s dead?!” Anko asked, stunned. “And this brat here is the one who killed him?”

“Technically it was an explosion that killed Orochimaru,” Tsunade corrected. “But yes, Naruto was instrumental in Orochimaru’s demise… along with Manda and the traitor Kabuto… He’s also the reason this mission exists.”

“But… how?” Anko asked, stumped.

“He captured several of Orochimaru’s higher ranking Shinobi that gave us the location of some of his more secret bases,” Tsunade shrugged.

“Not that,” Anko started before pointing to me. “How did this… this scrawny brat kill Orochimaru?”

“Scrawny?” I asked, affronted, poking my bicep. My muscles weren’t bulging like a power lifters, but they weren’t exactly tiny. “If I’m scrawny, then I’d hate to see what you think of as ripped.”

“That’s not the point, brat,” Anko snapped, before grabbing her head. “This… has got to be some sort of Joke. I’ve spent years training and I still wasn’t strong enough to kill him and now this… this brat has apparently gone and done it.”

“… Sorry?” I said. I could see how that would be frustrating. “Orochimaru was weakened at the time from his fight with the Sandaime, so that probably also helped.”

Anko seemed to perk up at that. “How weak are we talking here? Could you have just stomped on his throat a few times, Hokage-sama said that he died in an explosion, was it an explosive tag? That bastard would have hated that,” Anko chuckled maliciously.

“I mean, he was pretty strong still. I had to use the Kyuubi’s chakra and shot a bijuudama straight up his ass.”

A look of understanding crossed Anko’s face. “Oooh, right, you’re the Kyuubi Jinchuriki! So that’s how you were strong enough to kill Orochimaru!”

“You… forgot about that?” I asked. I thought that my status as Jinchuriki was known to all the adults in Konoha.

“I didn’t pay attention to that crap,” Anko waved me off. “I was too busy doing other shit, like being awesome.”

Tsunade coughed into her hand. “Now that you two are on the same page, I’ve got a mission for you,” she announced. “The captured sound four have given us the location of several of Orochimaru’s hidden bases. While I’m interested in exploring all of them, there is one specific one that I believe could be of great importance. The northern base where Orochimaru keeps those that have survived his curse mark.”

“So you need us to destroy it?” Anko asked, unconsciously grabbing her own curse mark.

If I’m not mistaken, the northern hideout is where Jugo is locked up.

“Yes, but first I want you two to search the building for anything that may be of use or importance. With some luck, we might find something that could allow us to remove the curse mark from you and Uchiha Sasuke,” Tsunade explained.

“You think you might be able to remove it?” Anko asked hopefully.

I winced at that. While watching the series, Orochimaru was one of my favorite characters, but here, in this reality… he was a real bastard that did some really messed up shit that ended up hurting a lot of people.

“Let’s put it this way. I currently have five Shinobi with the curse mark locked up and with information on how the curse mark work, I will have five opportunities to perfect the method of removing it,” Tsunade replied. Rifling through her papers, she handed a scroll to Anko. “This is listed as an A-rank mission. Bring back anything important and destroy the base!”

“Y-yes ma’am,” Anko saluted. “Oi, brat. Gather your supplies and meet me at the front gate in half an hour.” And with that, Anko vanished from the room with in a cloud of smoke.

“She’s a bit overly enthusiastic,” Tsunade chuckled.

“Yep,” I replied. “Sooo, Jonin, huh?”

“Are you complaining?”

“No, no,” I waved her off. “I just wasn’t expecting it is all.”

Tsunade sighed and leaned on her desk. “It’s a necessity. With the Sandaime dead by Orochimaru’s hand and the invasion the village has been weakened, Konoha is currently in a precarious situation. Other villages are looking for signs of weakness and they will move against us at the earliest convenience. It’s why we currently have everyone running ragged. We need all the manpower that we can muster running missions and protecting the boarders.”

“What about me, aren’t I supposed to be a deterrent against war simply by existing?” I asked. “I’m sure the other villages won’t want to attack if they find out Konoha has a perfect Jinchuriki!”

“That would solve some of our problems,” Tsunade admitted. “But it would also create new problems. Should the other villages find out that you’re a perfect Jinchuriki, it’s likely that you won’t be sent out on many missions because you would be needed here to guard Konoha. A bigger target would be painted on your back. If you died or were severely wounded, the other villages would take advantage of that and either invade or force us into an unfavorable position.”

And suddenly I was really glad that Tsunade was here to help me with this.

“Right, so I can only announce that I’m a perfect Jinchuriki after I’ve mastered the Kyuubi’s chakra and the Akatsuki is taken care of.”

“Around the time where you’ll become Hokage,” Tsunade replied. “Once you’re Hokage, you’ll be stuck in the village anyway, so it won’t be that big of a deal.”

That made sense, but at the same time, I didn’t know if I still wanted to become Hokage. Naruto initially wanted to become Hokage to be recognized by the village and I wanted to become Hokage because I didn’t want some idiot or warmonger leading the village. With Tsunade knowing my full past and what the future now held, I no longer needed to become Hokage because she would run the village efficiently.

“You’re going to become Hokage, Naruto! I’m not going to be wearing this hat and doing this paperwork forever. Don’t think you can skimp out now that I’m here,” Tsunade said.

“But you’re doing such a great job,” I replied.

“No,” Tsunade shook her head. “If I’m going to be stuck doing this job then so will you. Now, don’t you have a mission to prepare for?”

“Fine,” I sighed and turned to leave before pausing. “One last thing. Why aren’t you using shadow clones to complete the reports for you? If you don’t know it, you could always learn it in the scroll of seals and I know that you have the chakra for it!”

“It wouldn’t work,” Tsunade lamented. “There are a lot of reports and forms that I have to go through and fill out correctly. If I had several shadow clones do the work for me, I run the risk of making conflicting decisions. It happens quite often that someone will request an assassination and the target will request body guards, if I approved both, Konoha would be simultaneously guarding and assassinating the same person.”

I blinked at that. “Then after you’ve had the clones finish with the paperwork, filter it through a single clone that’s sole job is to look for errors or conflicting decisions. Here, make ten clones and have nine of them do the work while one goes through the completed documents.”

Tsunade’s eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly, before snapping shut. Bringing her hands together in a familiar seal, several shadow clones popped into existence and immediately got to working on the stacks of paperwork, grabbing them. The office was soon filled with numerous Tsunade’s, several sitting on the floor, several standing by the table, some even using the wall as they filled out the paperwork.

“Damnit, Naruto, I could almost kiss you.”

“I mean… you still could. It’s just us and your clones in here.” I replied.

“Maybe when it’s a little more socially acceptable,” Tsunade teased, waving me off. “You should probably go prepare for your mission. This is an important mission after all.”

“Fine,” I sighed and turned to leave. I was just at the door before I felt a tap on my back. “Yes?” I asked the Tsunade clone.

The clone glanced at Tsunade and smirked. Before I knew it, her hand grabbed the back of my head and pulled my face towards hers. My breath hitched as I stared into the clones mischievous brown eyes before our lips met.

Soft was the only thought that came to mind at our kiss. Our kiss deepened as I felt a tongue for its way into my mouth. My eyes widened as the clone moaned into my mouth and I tasted a slight hint of sake and peppermint. I hadn’t been expecting this, but now that it was happening, there was no way that I wasn’t going to enjoy it for all that it was worth.

 “WHAT THE HELL?!” Tsunade sputtered.

Snapping back to reality, I pulled away from the clone, each of us panting heavily. My face flushed red as I stared back at Tsunade. There was an open bottle of Sake spilt on the empty table and she was coughing heavily.

I… had just made out with her clone in front of her… Looking at the position of my hands on the clone, I gave an experimental squeeze… I’d gotten so far too… this was embarrassing.

“You,” Tsunade pointed to her clone. “What was that?”

“I felt like it,” The clone shrugged. “Beside’s, you’ve been teasing him for quite a while, why not give him a reward?”

“That’s not an explanation,” Tsunade growled.

“Well,” I interrupted, my face flushed with embarrassment. “I find that while shadow clones will follow orders, they have a lot less impulse control because they only exist for a short while. They’ll do what you tell them to, but they also like to have their own fun, so long as it doesn’t hurt the original.”

“That doesn’t explain why you went along with it,” Tsunade snapped.

“A gorgeous woman was kissing me, what did you expect me to do?!” I argued.

“And what a kiss that was,” The clone smirked.

“Alright, I’ve had enough of you,” Tsunade snarled.

“No, wait!”

I tried to stop her, but it was too late and the clone dispelled. Tsunade and all the clones in the room froze, before staring at me in silence. The experience and the feelings the clone had just felt had now transferred to all of them. Now, when she dispelled the rest of the clones, the memories of the first clone would be engraved into Tsunade’s memory.

Now it was Tsunade’s turn for her face to flush red. Looking to her empty sake bottle, she glanced back at me, giving me an odd look.

“I should… I should go,” I said.

“That would probably be for the best,” Tsunade replied softly. “Or… no, never mind.”

“Okay. I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

“Yes… later,” Tsunade repeated. “After your mission.”

“Yeah,” I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. “I’m glad Shizune wasn’t here to see this,” I mumbled under my breath, but apparently not soft enough as one of Tsunade’s clones let out a snicker. Turning around, I left the room without being stopped this time.

…PTL…

My body moved on autopilot, collecting several weapons, some money and my last orange jacket while my mind was frantically trying to make sense of what happened.

Tsunade had kissed me… well, her clone did. Clones are copies of the original user without much of a regard for their own safety and less impulse control, but they were still a copy. On some level, Tsunade wanted to kiss me, but she had been holding back and it was most likely due to my age.

There was definitely a connection between us, how could there not be? We had seen the best and worst of each other after all. How would a relationship even work between us now, my body was pretty young and she was around 50, not counting her accelerated aging from using the creation rebirth.

“You humans really overcomplicate things! I don’t see what the problem is.”

‘The problem is that there’s a massive age gap between us, not to mention how it would appear to others.’

“A small age gap of 50 years,” Kurama scoffed. “And since when did you start caring about what others thought of you. You’ve specifically decided not to care when they judged you for containing me!”

‘I’m not so worried about what they think of me but rather what they would think of her, she’s the Hokage and the villagers wouldn’t think kindly of her for dating someone that’s so much younger,’ I thought back.

“I still fail to see the issue with her age. If you’re worried that she will die from age sooner rather than later, then just fix the issue. You’re already going to one of Orochimaru’s labs, specifically the one where Jugo’s located. Jugo who can regenerate through sage mode and absorbing the bodies of others!”

I had already thought of that. Before any of this had happened, I had already planned on finding a solution to the aging problem of Tsunade’s creation rebirth and my body healing rapidly through using Kurama’s chakra.

‘Thanks for the help, but I think this is something Tsunade and I are going to have to talk through. Maybe something will come from it, maybe not… I’ll talk to her when I get back.’

Kurama let out a grunt and remained silent.